Owners of Vermont's Wildflower Inn are denying they have an anti-gay policy rooted in their religious beliefs, according to PinkPaper.com . Lesbian couple Kate Baker and Ming Linsley say the Wildflower Inn initially expressed interest in hosting the $35,000 reception last year, but changed its mind when it realized the event was a lesbian wedding. Owners Jim and Mary O'Reilly say they were never told about the couple, adding that their events director, Amalia Harris, didn't have the authority to turn them away.
Levi Johnston—who was almost the son-in-law of Sarah Palin—won't run for mayor of their hometown (Wasilla, Alaska) because of his hectic schedule, according to a New York Daily News item. Last year, Johnston, 21, said he was interested in running for office; however attorney Rex Butler said that because of Johnston's upcoming book tour, he won't be able to devote time to a mayoral campaign. Johnston—who has a 2-year-old son, Tripp, with Bristol Palin—has a tell-all book entitled Deer in Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs.
Jerry Buell, the Lake County (Fla.) teacher who was suspended after making anti-gay comments on Facebook, said he's looking forward to getting back into the classroom—moments after the district's superintendent reinstated him, according to the Orlando Sentinel. "If I did not stand up for my rights after telling my students to stand up for their rights then I would be a hypocrite," the Mount Dora High social studies teacher said as he stood in front the school district's offices with his attorney and wife. On Facebook, he wrote, among other things, that he "almost threw up" after hearing that New York legalized same-sex marriage. He added after being reinstated that all students are treated the same in his classroom, regardless of sexual orientation.
Although Buell has been reinstated, another Florida teacher has been fired—because he used to be a gay porn star, according to the New York Daily News. Shawn Loftis ditched his porn career last year to focus on teaching, but is still widely known by his alias, Collin O'Neal. Loftis, a citizen reporter for CNN, was suspended from his substitute-teaching job in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools in January. Also, his certification has been revoked despite insisting that he is no longer a porn actor.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been named the second most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes magazine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped the list, with other notables including First Lady Michelle Obama (#8), singer Lady Gaga (#11), mogul Oprah Winfrey (#14), singer/actress Beyoncé Knowles (#18), actress Angelina Jolie (#29), Sarah Palin (#34), news anchor Diane Sawyer (#47), talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (#55) and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour (#69). Ernst & Young's Global Vice Chair, lesbian Beth Brooke, is ranked #100.
Indiana state Rep. Phil Hinkle has admitted that he paid 18-year-old Kameryn Gibson $80 on Aug. 6 for sex, according to the Indianapolis Star. However, not only is Hinkle refusing to say that he is gay, but he is refusing calls for him to step down. House Speaker Brian Bosma has stripped Hinkle of his committee chairmanships and has joined other GOP officials who have asked him to resign. However, Hinkle said that it's not up to party leaders to make that decision.
In New Jersey, Japanese author Haruki Murakami's 1987 novel, Norwegian Wood, has been removed from the summer reading list for students at Williamstown High School, according to a Quill & Quire item. Parents reportedly objected to a scene in the novel that depicts a "graphic lesbian sex scene between a 31-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl." The school also yanked Nic Sheff's New York Times best-selling memoir Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines because of a "drug-fueled homosexual orgy."
A new study in the journal Biological Psychology claims to have shown that some men who say they're bisexual actually get aroused by both men and women, according to CNN.com . The Chicago-based research focused on self-identified bisexual men who had engaged in intimate relations of at least three months with at least one person of each sex. However, only 35 bisexual men, 31 gay men and 34 heterosexual men participated in the study—which many consider a small sample size.
The largest county in Ohio, Cuyahoga (which includes Cleveland), is considering health benefits for its unmarried and gay employees, according to a SouthFloridaGayNews.com item. County Councilwoman Sunny Simon feels that few people might want the benefits, and that there would not be much impact on taxpayers. Cleveland recently began offering domestic-partner benefits for its workers.
A New York rabbi has joined religious leaders such as televangelist Pat Robertson in blaming natural disasters on gays, according to Examiner.com . Rabbi Yehuda Levin posted a YouTube video claiming that God caused the recent East Coast earthquake because same-sex marriage is legal in New York and Washington, D.C. Levin says, "You have shaken your male member; I, too, shall shake the Earth." He then says that he doesn't hate gay people but that he feels badly for gay pedophiles.
Republican Puerto Rican senator Roberto Arango has resigned from office after a very explicit nude photo surfaced on the gay pickup site Grindr, according to Advocate.com . He originally said of the photo, "As I shed that weight, I've been taking pictures. I don't remember taking this particular picture but I'm not gonna say I didn't take it. I'd tell you if I remembered taking the picture but I don't." Arango was vice chair to George W. Bush's 2004 Puerto Rico campaign, and has been the majority leader of Puerto Rico's senate since 2009. His resignation will take effect Aug. 31.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announced in a press release Aug. 27 that its president, Joe Solmonese, "will not renew his contract, which expires March 31, 2012." Rebecca Tillet, a co-chair of HRC's Board of Directors, noted in the press release that the board had asked Solmonese to give them six months notice before leaving his position, "and he's done that." Solmonese said in the HRC press release, "Leading HRC has been an inspiring experience and a complete privilege." Solmonese took the helm of the nation's largest LGBT political organization in 2005, following an 11-month stint by his predecessor, Massachusetts state Sen. Cheryl Jacques.
GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum told a Spartanburg, S.C., crowd that the gay community has waged a holy war against him over his opposition to same-sex marriage, Advocate.com reported. Of marriage equality, he recalled an anti-gay statement he's made in saying, "I said 'This is a napkin. A napkin is what a napkin is. It isn't a paper towel. It isn't a car.' You can call a napkin a car, but it doesn't make it a car. You can call a paper towel a chair, but it doesn't make it a chair. Marriage is what marriage is."
Louis Marinelli—a vocal opponent of marriage equality who earlier this year actually became a conservative advocate for the issue—seemingly has returned to his former ways, according to Project Q Atlanta. In changing his stripes earlier this year, Marinelli had even planned his own Summer of Marriage Equality tour; however, when the Human Rights Campaign announced its own tour, Marinelli complained that the organization took his idea and cancelled his. Now, he is backing GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry, who recently signed the National Organization for Marriage's anti-gay marriage pledge.
In Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray joined LGBT-rights activists in expressing outrage over the news that an off-duty police officer allegedly shooting at three transgender women and two male friends, according to the Washington Blade. The officer, Kenneth Furr, has been stripped of his police duties pending the outcome of an investigation by Internal Affairs and the Force Investigation Team. One of the victims has claimed that Furr became incensed when he solicited one of the women for sex and she rejected him.
In Georgia, Brian Michael Sawyer—a former top executive with the gay nightlife publication David magazine—has been arrested, according to Project Q Atlanta. Booking information showed that Sawyer had a criminal charge against him but did not include details of said charge. Sawyer had been a key player in the company that bought David and Southern Voice for $9,000 in bankruptcy court more than two years ago. Before that, Sawyer was chief operating officer at Gaydar, also a weekly nightlife magazine; a printer sued that publication, claiming it owed more than $40,000.
In Texas, the same-sex domestic partners of employees at Dallas' Parkland Hospital will soon have access to health benefits after the facility's board of managers approved a proposal first offered almost four years ago, according to the Dallas Voice. The addition of benefits, which takes effect Jan. 1, is expected to cost $696,635 in fiscal year 2012; however, the chair of the board said that the move will make the hospital more competitive for workers and will allow it to improve its quality of care.
In the case against Dhuran Ravi—the Rutgers University man accused of indirectly contributing to roommate Tyler Clementi's 2010 suicide—prosecutors want to keep the identity of the man who was intimate with Clementi anonymous, Advocate.com reported. Ravi is charged with bias intimidation and invasion of privacy for reportedly using a webcam to spy on Clementi and the other man, referred to in papers as "M.B." Ravi's attorneys contend that M.B. has relevant information and that his identity should be disclosed.
In California, an adult-film actor has tested positive for HIV, prompting Los Angeles productions to temporarily shut down until the results can be confirmed, according to the L.A. Times. "Until we know for sure, we've asked the industry to have a moratorium on production," said Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a porn-industry trade group. Rules dictate that adult-film performers must be tested every 30 days and show proof of a clean test before they can work.
At a trial involving openly gay former Army Lt. Dan Choi, his attorney questioned five U.S. Park police officers about their decision to arrest Choi last November after he handcuffed himself to the White House to protest "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," according to the Washington Blade. Choi—who faces a maximum sentence of six months in jail or a $5,000 fine if found guilty—later told reporters that he rejected a plea-bargain offer because he believes the law used to arrest him is unconstitutional.
The LGBT-centered Here Media has announced the international expansion of its LGBT brands, according to a press release. Beginning with the December 2011 issue, Here Media and Greek publisher G. Piliouras, Ltd., will produce a Greek-language edition of OUT magazine. G. Piliouras, Ltd., will collaborate with OUT Editor-in-Chief Aaron Hicklin to translate the brand's leading fashion, style and pop culture content for the Greek marketplace.
The White House named GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) a Champion of Change for the organization's two decades of work to fight bullying, violence and stigma directed at LGBT people in K-12 schools, and its contributions to efforts to prevent suicide among at-risk youth, according to a GLSEN press release. GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard and Public Policy Manager Alison Gill, along with eight other award recipient representatives, met Aug. 25 with representatives from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration at the White House to discuss their initiatives and to share best practices from their work.
Fourteen of the nation's top 17 hospitals in the U.S. News & World Report 2012 Best Hospitals Edition also participated in the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation's 2011 Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), according to an HRC press release. The exclusive hospital ratings, issued annually by U.S. News and World Report, are based on data from nearly 5,000 hospitals in 16 adult specialties and 10 pediatric specialties, and are widely accepted as the official national healthcare ratings. Among the top facilities also in the HEI are Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is at least privately supporting lesbian City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for mayor in 2013, according to an On Top Magazine item. Former Mayor Ed Koch added, "There's no question in my mind that of all the candidates, [Bloomberg] sees Chris Quinn as far better for the city of New York." However, Bloomberg cannot hand-pick a successor; Koch added that Bloomberg can only "influence" or "impact."
North Carolina's House majority leader, Paul "Skip" Stam, compared same-sex marriage to polygamy and incest, according to On Top Magazine. Stam, 61, made the remarks during a press conference on a proposed constitutional amendment that would prohibit marriage equality throughout the state. He said, "you cannot construct an argument for same sex-marriage that would not also justify philosophically the legalization of polygamy and adult incest," adding that being gay is a choice.
Openly gay CNN anchor Don Lemon was auctioned off for a date during the National Lesbian & Gay Journalist Association's (NLGJA) 2011 national convention in Philadelphia, according to On Top Magazine. Internet entrepreneur David Hauslaib, the founder and former owner of gay blog Queerty.com, won a date with Lemon by bidding $1,050. Lemon came out during a May interview with The New York Times, becoming the third high-profile openly gay news personality, along with MSNBC's Thomas Roberts and Rachel Maddow.
The Rev. Tracey Lind, a married lesbian priest, is one of five finalists to become the next bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, according to SDGLN.com . Lind, 57, is dean of Cleveland's Trinity Cathedral; she married Emily Ingalls last year in New Hampshire. Bishop Mark Sisk has planned to retire by August 2014, so a panel has chosen the finalists who would succeed him.
Former Wisconsin Rep. Mark Neumann has announced he's runing for the U.S. Senate next year as a Republican—setting up a possible contest with lesbian Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, according to On Top Magazine. Neumann has an anti-gay background, saying in 1996, "If I were elected God for a day, homosexuality wouldn't be permitted." He has also said that being out of the closet is "inappropriate."
